Baked goods such as cookies are typically formed from batter or dough, e.g., mixtures of flour, milk, eggs, yeast or one or more other flavored ingredients that are blended and kneaded into pliable, putty-like consistencies and cooked in ovens at increased temperatures. For example, prior to baking, cookie dough may be formed into balls, lumps, wedges or other flexible shapes or masses, deposited onto a sheet or tray, and placed in an oven. Once the dough begins to heat, butter within the dough melts, causing the dough to slowly collapse under its own weight, and to occupy a larger area on the sheet or tray. After the temperature of the dough reaches water's boiling point, water within the mixture turns to steam, thereby causing the dough to rise as vapors emanate therefrom. When the baking process nears its conclusion, sugars within the dough caramelize and mix with proteins from eggs and flours within the mixture. Subsequently, the sheet or tray is removed from the oven, and the baked dough is allowed to cool into a delicious treat that is enjoyable as a snack, or as one part of a course of a meal (e.g., a dessert), and at any time. Many other baked goods, such as pastries or pizzas, may be prepared in a similar manner, and baked or otherwise cooked according to similar processes.
Geometric properties of cookies and other baked goods tend to complicate the manner by which such goods may be presented or marketed to customers. After baking, a cookie takes a shape of a circular disc and typically having one crisp side, e.g., a side of the disc that contacted the sheet or tray during baking, and one soft side, e.g., an opposite side of the disc that was not in contact with the sheet or tray. The structural integrity of the soft side of a cookie may depend on the amounts or concentrations of flour, sugar or fats (e.g., butter) within the dough. Additionally, many cookies are often coated with ornate layers of frosting, icing or other toppings. Therefore, in many situations, stacking cookies atop one another may risk flattening one or more of the cookies, obscuring their surface textures and features, or marring the frosting, icing or toppings thereon, thereby adversely impacting both the appearance and the marketability of the cookies to customers. As a result, freshly baked cookies are often displayed to customers on a plate, which may be an inefficient use of space. Cookies without toppings, or those that are firm enough to endure contact with one another and remain intact or unmarred, also sometimes packaged loosely in boxes, and sold to customers. The surface textures and features of a cookie that is packaged in a box, like those of a cookie that is placed in a stack, are likewise hidden from view.